Excellent gut health is crucial, referring to the proper balance of microorganisms living in our digestive tracts. Through maintaining excellent gut health, it can lead to better immunity, physical health, mental health, and more.
While you can purchase and take supplements that may help with gut health, coming from brands like Energetix from Supplement First, it’s also important to make appropriate lifestyle changes, too. Here are effective ways you can improve your gut health and microorganism balance.
- Take probiotics
Boost your body’s levels of beneficial bacteria (probiotics) in your gut through probiotic supplements. You can find these supplements in health food stores, drug stores, or online stores like supplementfirst.com.
Besides that, there are other foods you can consume to support healthy gut microbiomes, even preventing gut inflammation, among other intestinal issues. One type of food to consume is fermented foods, which are natural sources of probiotics. Increase your intake of fermented vegetables, kimchi, kombucha, miso, tempeh, and sauerkraut!
- Consume prebiotic fiber
Furthermore, it’s important to increase your consumption of prebiotic fiber, which can help probiotics become tolerant to various environmental conditions, like temperature and pH level changes. Here are prebiotic-rich foods to add to your diet:
- Asparagus
- Bananas
- Garlic
- Onions
- Chicory
- Jerusalem artichoke
- Whole grains
You might also want to start consuming a vegetarian diet, which can help improve gut health by taking in more prebiotic fiber.
- Consume less sugar and sweeteners
Eating a ton of sugar and artificial sweeteners can cause gut dysbiosis, an imbalance of gut microbes.
Studies have shown that consumption of sugars and sweeteners can increase bacterial strains ad negatively affect the gut microbiome. These are linked with brain, behavior, and metabolic diseases. That’s why it’s important to lessen all that sugar, which will help your health in so many other ways besides your gut.
- Reduce stress
It’s crucial to manage stress, as it would help with your mental and physical health. Surprisingly, it also affects your gut.
Various stressors can negatively affect one’s gut health, like psychological stress, environmental stress, and poor sleep. Fortunately, there are ways to manage stress, such as meditation, deep breathing exercises, and managing triggers or stressors.
It’s also important to get enough sleep and begin exercising regularly, which can help with stress. We recommend getting at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise weekly and muscle-strengthening activities at least twice a week. Also, do your best to get at least seven hours of sleep nightly!
- Don’t take antibiotics when unnecessary
While taking antibiotics may be needed from time to time when fighting bacterial infections, it’s important to avoid overusing them. Not only can it result in antibiotic resistance, but it can damage the gut microbiota and immunity.
Before you use antibiotics, make sure that you discuss any alternative options and get the proper dosage.
Wrapping It Up
From taking probiotic supplements to improving your sleep, there are so many ways to maintain great gut health for the long term.